Among the components typically present in a mobile telephony system are a mobile switching center (MSC), a base station or access network, and a mobile station. The mobile station is a mobile telephone, handset or mobile telecommunications device user by a subscriber to a mobile telephony service to place and receive calls via the mobile telephony service. The base station contains the fixed equipment with which multiple mobile stations can communicate. In situations where data rather than voice communication is being transmitted, the term ‘access network’ might be used to refer to and describe the equipment that performs functions similar to those performed by a base station. The MSC acts as a switching point that connects multiple base stations to the public switched telephone network, to mobile telephony-based networks, or to other networks. The communication link between a mobile station and a base station can be referred to as a traffic channel.